kid pics

flying the Medi-Vac helicopter at Big Rig Day!

working some controls in the back

Ha ha ha!! This'll probably go in his senior yearbook someday.

...and then there's this girl at Big Rig Day. Again, ha ha ha!!



sorry for blurry picture, but I wanted to show one of their favorite brother/sister activites: crawling up on our bed any chance they can
and hootin' and hollerin' out the window. I love it.





proudly displaying the hands of boyhood after playing with the ashes in our backyard fireplace (don't judge me! ha.)



and proudly displaying the hands of a future chocoholic. Sorry, buddy. It's Mommy's fault!

  

ugh, she just melts my heart.

Eliza is in LOVE with the vacuum cleaner. She can't even control herself when I bring it out!

Gannon's goodness

We took a family trip to Gannon's Isle tonight for ice cream and I (Stephanie) decided that I'm going to try each and every one of their homemade ice cream flavors this summer. Scott thought I should include a review of each, or a rating at the very least, so that's what I'm here to do. It'll be good to have a place to keep track of what I've already tried, too!

1. Sea Salt - this was actually my very first Gannon's experience this summer when they opened in early April. Unfortunately they didn't have soft serve available yet, so I couldn't get my standard chocolate vanilla twist with Krunch Kote. This was certainly no substitution. I have nothing good to say about this flavor. The salt content was insane. I hated my experience. I don't know if I've EVER said that about consuming ice cream...

2. Peppermint Patty - delicious. Pink mint ice cream with large chunks of dark chocolate and wonderfully crunchy, but kind of gooey red and green candies. Reminds me of an ice cream that comes out at Christmas time and I loved it. It was perfect. 

3. Seattle Sludge - I had no idea what this contained when I ordered it, and I can't seem to find a description on their website, so I'll have to ask for the official list of ingredients when I go next time. This wasn't amazing in my book. It seemed to be a chocolate/coffee-ish ice cream with walnut halves, chocolate cake or brownie pieces and some light colored peanut butter or cookie dough-type ingredient. I really liked all of the textures, but didn't love the combination as a whole or the very rich, dark chocolate taste.

4. Peanut Butter Perfection - eh. The peanut butter ice cream didn't seem peanut buttery enough and there were nowhere near enough chunks for my liking. I won't get that again.

5. Caramel Cashew - It's a vanilla ice cream with caramel swirl and cashew halves. The flavor was good, but again, not enough chunks for me. I guess I like chunks?

6. Charlie Brown - there was a Gannon's cart when we went to Big Rig Day at Burnet Park on Saturday and I couldn't resist the opportunity to check off at least one more flavor and this is what Alexander and I shared. Mmm mmm good! Chocolate ice cream with big chunks of peanut butter = delicious. I'd love to have some more!

just because it's been awhile...take 2.

Alexander is becoming a man! He's no longer afraid of the sounds of power tools and is even eager to help Gramps work on projects just about every weekend!

I have no good explanation...

Am I creative or what?! Ha. 

Eliza and Luke (my best friend Diane's son). She hasn't grasped the concept of modesty yet! 

Diane, teaching a great motion song to Alexander first thing in the morning. 

He's available to shoot weddings, newborns, family reunions, whatever your needs!

Eliza's journey over this table didn't end well for her. She had fun on the way up, though!

Our very first "on top of a fake animal" picture from zoo. Again, Alexander's becoming a man. He never used to let us put him up on these things. Maybe Eliza helps him feel courageous?

All this girl wants to do is stand up and explore! 

Why do all children love to do this?!